The other salespersons, however, hesitated to serve a client like Erwin, who appeared to lack money but was irate, as they could face fines if Erwin complained.
"How about we have Ruby, the newbie, take care of him? She's still in the restroom, so she doesn't know about this customer's attitude," the senior salesperson whispered among themselves.
"I was thinking the same. After she comes back from the restroom, let's act kind and hand the customer over to her ," a senior salesman replied.
"Then, it's settled." After a brief discussion among the sales seniors, Ruby the subject of their conversation, just so happened to exit the restroom.
"Ruby, there's a new customer in the store looking at cars. As it happens, your performance this month isn't complete, so we've decided to assign this customer to you," the sales seniors feigned magnanimity as they passed Erwin along to her.
"Really? Thank you so much ." Ruby seemed oblivious to the fact the sales seniors had done this deliberately, and while speaking, she didn't forget to straighten her own attire and smile. After adjusting to the most comfortable state, she appeared in front of Erwin slowly.
"Hello, sir are you interested in looking at a car? Do you have a preferred brand?"
At that very moment, Erwin was examining a white Ferrari, and upon hearing the friendly voice, he instinctively looked towards the source.
Before him was a smooth and attractive girl in a tempting short black office skirt, but to Erwin, this beautiful woman seemed somewhat familiar, as though he had encountered her somewhere before.
As he struggled to remember, Ruby recognised Erwin first, but having not seen Erwin for several years, she was still somewhat uncertain and inquired tentatively, "You , Erwin?"
"Yes, you're Ruby, right?!" Upon being addressed by name, Erwin immediately recalled who this woman was Ruby Gracia,
the deputy head of their literary club back in college. At that time, Erwin joined the literary clup due to his hobby and was very close to Ruby; their relationship was also notably cordial.
"Imde, indeed, what a coincidence to run into you here." Ruby was overjoyed, as Erwin had been her most reliable person throughout college, and they often spent time together in the literary clup, even discussing their future aspirations.
"Why are you working sales here? Weren't you working as a magazine editor?" Erwin recalled Ruby securing a job as a magazine editor after graduating college, and she had been quite delighted at that time, particularly because her profession and passion aligned. After a three year absence, to find Ruby as a car salesperson here was quite shocking to Erwin.
"Let's not talk about it; in this age of the internet, who reads magazines anymore? To survive, I had to take this sales job." Ruby sighed, faced with reality, gradually relinquishing her dream.
Erwin was quite moved; the times were changing too rapidly, and if he wasn't careful, he too might fail to keep pace.
"And you? Did you become a producer?" Ruby still remembered Erwin telling her during college that he aspired to be a distinguished local producer who could eliminate the inferior film and television works from market and launch unmatched masterpieces.